Peavey T-40 Club Part 2

[babyDJ]

I'm looking for a t40 or t20 neck of anybody wanting to sell one. maple, rosewood, don't matter

 

[UNICORN BASS]

SpoonySmalls. Here is my current T40. Rocks pretty hard!

 

[ZachM]

Hella sweet that they are considered cool all of the sudden. I hardly ever play this thing, but now I'm reluctant to get rid of it! Ever since I learned about the uniqueness of the electronics I've been on a mission to learn how to best use this thing!

The T-40 electronics really are a genius design. You can change them, but personally I'm not sure they can be improved upon. I tried once actually, by taking my second T-40 to the luthier and asked him to do this:

• remove phase switch and replace it with a series/parallel
• make the coils tappable with a push pull tone knob

It was... well it was just okay. My goal was to be able to get humbuckers with the tone on 100% and single coils with the tone rolled back and figured I'd throw in the series/parallel since I never used the phase switch. It turns out that full tone humbucker was a little bit brighter, but mostly the same. The single-coil-tone-down thing was nice, but not that useful - same for the series/parallel switch, which basically had the effect of soloing the neck pickup.

The real problem was that in doing these mods, I lost the magic of the shunting action, which is the real heart of the T-40 sound. I could no longer get that "middle ground" setting when you start to roll the tone back and engage the humbucker, and that sucked. So yeah, learn from my mistake and don't modify the T-40 electronics

Anyway, I've really found my voice on the T-40 to be this:

• pickup switch to middle, phase switch disengaged
• neck pickup full tone, full volume
• bridge pickup tone fully off, volume backed off just a little to between ~8.5-9.25

This basically gives you a refined neck pickup sound, without the low-mid "woof", the quack in the mids, or the high treble extension. There is a miniature world of adjustment in that range where you're not soloing the neck pickup, but you're also not engaging the bridge in full parallel. No other bass I have can do this sound, so I'll never part with the T-40 for that reason alone.

 

[ZachM]

This actually brings me to a question.

Has anybody here heard or, or seen a bass that uses the T-40 electronics configuration - but without the actual T-40 pickups?

I've personally never seen this, but have often wondered what the results would be. I've played a couple T-45s which IIRC use the same pickup, and although those are good basses, I don't actually love the tone of a single T-40 pickup compared to other types of pickups in the same position. Afaik you could do the T-40 wiring setup with any coil-tappable humbucker, so I wonder what it would be like to do it with Lollar T-bird pickups or something similar. Anybody tried this?

 

[Riff Ranger]

This actually brings me to a question.

Has anybody here heard or, or seen a bass that uses the T-40 electronics configuration - but without the actual T-40 pickups?

I've personally never seen this, but have often wondered what the results would be. I've played a couple T-45s which IIRC use the same pickup, and although those are good basses, I don't actually love the tone of a single T-40 pickup compared to other types of pickups in the same position. Afaik you could do the T-40 wiring setup with any coil-tappable humbucker, so I wonder what it would be like to do it with Lollar T-bird pickups or something similar. Anybody tried this?

I will try to track down where I saw it—definitely on TalkBass, possibly in this very thread—but recently some manufacturer built a bass with electronics and aesthetics very similar to those of a T-40, but considerably lighter weight (of course!). I don’t know if that quite answers your question, but I presume it at least interests this club.

 

[Riff Ranger]

After a year and a half with my T-40, I got it in my head to check the serial number and it turns out I bought a 1979, and not a birth year 1980 as the listing said

Of course it remains cool for all the other reasons and I do like it, but I am considering moving it along for something I would probably use more. I thought I’d float that here before committing and listing.

 

[B-Mac]

I will try to track down where I saw it—definitely on TalkBass, possibly in this very thread—but recently some manufacturer built a bass with electronics and aesthetics very similar to those of a T-40, but considerably lighter weight (of course!). I don’t know if that quite answers your question, but I presume it at least interests this club.

Wasn’t it Retrovibe?

 

[kodiakblair]

Wasn’t it Retrovibe?

Aye Mac, David Konig has a thing for the Spin-a-Split circuit so made a 4 string bass up, think it's called TT-40 after the motorcycle race; It's still for sale.

Has anybody here heard or, or seen a bass that uses the T-40 electronics configuration

Dan Armstrong with his 'London Bass'. That was in 1970 so technically the T-40 has no claim to originality for the circuit

 

[cobascis]

Has anyone had to replace bridge mounting screws? Or source some when building a T-40 from parts? I am missing those screw and need replacements... thanks!

 

[cobascis]

I had one original screw and found an exact match (albeit stainless steel, which looks good on this bass since there are multiple metal finishes on the bridge. That said the originals are chrome or zinc coated) at the local hardware store. Now in the process of wiring it with push/pull pots thanks to @Justyn Brando 's post.

 

[Justyn Brando]

It's worth it!! So much easier to adjust on the fly

 

[cobascis]

Did you have to extend the leads of the neck pickup? Getting it down to the tone push/pull pot means that its too tight to fit in the body route. Hate to extend them but might have to.

 

[Justyn Brando]

I believe I did. Soldered and shrink wrapped the collection. I have to redo the input jack tomorrow, I'll take pictures once I open it up

 

[Justyn Brando]

Here's the wiring with push/pulls.
Note: I had flipped the pickups to try different single coil positions. I ended up putting the pickups back to standard position, with the wax facing the pots.

 

[Count Bassie]

Did a trade for this '82 yesterday, then went on from the parking lot we met to a gig, 2 sets at a local Moose Lodge. I'll be spending some weeks getting used to it/getting to know it. At this point I like it a lot, last night it worked out very well (I used the MM configuration, my other bass for that band is a Sterling 34ca Stingray).
I'll probably pull the Rotosound 66 Swing Bass strings it came with and put something a little more fret-friendly on it. But I'm very happy with my trade...

 

[tombowlus]

Did a trade for this '82 yesterday, then went on from the parking lot we met to a gig, 2 sets at a local Moose Lodge. I'll be spending some weeks getting used to it/getting to know it. At this point I like it a lot, last night it worked out very well (I used the MM configuration, my other bass for that band is a Sterling 34ca Stingray).
I'll probably pull the Rotosound 66 Swing Bass strings it came with and put something a little more fret-friendly on it. But I'm very happy with my trade...
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Congrats! Looks really clean.

 

[Count Bassie]

Congrats! Looks really clean.

Thanks, yeah it is- almost dingless! A little finish wear at the edges here and there. Pretty good for 44 years.

 

[UNICORN BASS]

Wow! that is a stripey top. Congrats.

 

[Count Bassie]

Wow! that is a stripey top. Congrats.

Thanks! Yeah it's got a look, they did a thoughtful thing matching the grain- it comes off a good bit dark compared to many I see. It's got character, I'm good with it.
The more I play it the more I think I *should be* playing it... I wasn't really looking for one, but the offer came and there she was. Don't mind the weight so far, but I'm looking for a cushy strap now to avoid the knot that I know is coming!